I've read several books by this author - some I liked, some I loved, some not so much - but THIS ONE…. WOW… it profoundly impacted me. I mean seriously, wow. It’s so much more than just a thriller. So emotional. I need everyone to read this book so we can talk about it.

It’s ominous, rife with devastating tragedy. A story about survivor's guilt, having to make impossible decisions and then living with the consequences. It’s about the bonds of friendship through tragic circumstances. The POV choices were really good and the way the story is structured is also amazing.

The layers keep building, the plot continuously thickens, the reveals are slow-dripped throughout. I couldn’t put it down I was so hooked. There is never a dull moment, the pacing is perfect. And the way all the pieces come together is just chef’s kiss.

I'm still reeling from it all. Ten out of ten, all five stars, my favorite book by her to date, this one is perfection, a masterpiece, and narrative crafting genius. The characters!!! The plot!!! Yall… I so needed this book right now. A very powerful story and I highly recommend it!

Megan Miranda draws you in as you meet The Only Survivors as they prepare for the 10th annual retreat as the survivors of a horrid wreck on a class trip in rural Tennessee. Cassidy Bent had worked hard to NOT attend, but yet, she goes. Once she arrives at the secluded beach house in the Outer Banks, she realizes she missed major events while she distanced herself. As the week continues to unfold and a storm moves in, she realizes that everyone has something to hide. Told in present day and flashback to the wreck, you learn what each character has to hide. The Only Survivors will keep you turning pages to finally learn the truth. One of the best suspense/psychological reads this year!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the digital ARC of ”The Only Survivors” in exchange for my honest opinion. This book starts right off by establishing a feeling of intense dread and doom that is maintained throughout the story. I had a hard time connecting with the characters in large part because there were so many that were survivors and I had a difficult time keeping track of who was who in both the past and present stories. I feel like telling the story of the past in the form of reverse chronological hours only added to my confusion and by the midpoint I just really wanted things explained for me. Megan Miranda does a great job of using setting to create mood and help drive the plot. The descriptions of the river and mountains, as well as the Outer Banks (my top choice of vacation spot!) were well done. I think this book will be well liked by many, but feel her other books were much stronger.

Loved this book. Snowed in at a cabin for a few days. What a great read to have during those days. Didn’t want to and didn’t have to put it down. So many twists and turns. Didn’t see the ending coming at all!! Very interesting characters involved. Just wished I could have understood Cassidy a little more though out her early years, home life etc……wanted to know her more, before the accident.

10 years ago there was a deadly accident that left a small town group of kids bonded for life. After the event that forever changed their lives and bonded them together through a pack the past starts to resurface. And this time the truth might not stay hidden after all.

The story is told through Cassidy Bent's POV with flashback scenes from other main characters (Brody, Grace, Josh, Oliver, Hollis & Amaya) that survived that night. Cassidy has not intention of going back to this year's annual trip to OBX since the accident happened. That is until she receives a text that another member of the group is dead. From there the story starts to unfold and those secrets that have been lingering in the past come to light. The question is who is next to die for their secrets?

The story is told at a slower pace than most MM. At times the details were a bit much imo but overall I really enjoyed that small twist and turns throughout the book. I will say I DID NOT SEE THAT PLOT TWIST AT THE END COMING! I did guess who was behind the other events that occur throughout the book.

I would recommend if you enjoy a good slow burn MM or are a fan of Megan Miranda's. The Only Survivors will have you questioning who you trust in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Okay, let's talk DNFs yall... It is more than okay to mark a book off in the "Did-Not-Finish" category. I am very thankful to have received both a physical copy and a digital copy of the book before it's published on April 11, 2023. Still, it just wasn't my cup of tea -- and maybe it will be somebody else's, so I've decided to send it off to a dear friend so she might better attempt to digest it.

I am not bashing the publishers, the author, or the messaging; I'm simply saying it's about time we normalize honesty and speaking up about our thoughts and feelings. I've consumed other works from this author before and have enjoyed those iterations; this one didn't follow up on the promise for me.

I absolutely loved this twisty thriller about a group of survivors from a tragic event in high school who get together every year on the reunion. I was absolutely ripping through the pages to figure out what really happened during the original event.

The only survivors by Megan Miranda is a mix of Yellowjackets and the Big Chill set in Outer Banks. Every year the only eight survivors of a school bus crash come together in a beach house called the Shallows. Not really to commemorate or as a tribute but to collectively forget. To bond in their denial of all that happened before. Cassidy Bent, our protagonist, is reluctant to go as all the years before. She is fed up with indulging in the shared guilt. But is lured there by the suicide of one of them. And some mysterious messages are coming from his phone.
In reality, it was not a simple crash; a lot of people died, were left behind, there was a mysterious knife, and even after they crawled to safety, people kept dying.
The novel evokes this strange connection between the eight; by intelligently abstaining. The narration behaves as the protagonists do by never speaking out loud about what happened until the end. It is spooky how the eight do not come together to discuss; they go about their business, go to the beach, go to a bar as if nothing has happened—but there is always this atmosphere of distrust and paranoia lurking underneath the summer activities.
This vagueness is the strength and a weaker point in the novel. It works beautifully as a hypnotic, fascinating story. Still, because it is kept vague (why is everybody so freaked out? They try so hard to seem normal.), it loses some propulsive energy that could have made this a tauter thriller.
But it is a creepy, evocative, and compelling read, haunting even, with a protagonist who can carry all the guilt and this mesmerizing story on her shoulders.

Cassidy is lured to the tenth annual reunion of a group of former classmates. Yet, it is not a happy occasion for what the reunion commemorates is an accident involving two school vans in which ten students and two teachers died. There is a big secret about the accident that the survivors are harboring and already two of them have subsequently died. Now, it seems someone may be on to them and is after the truth. Are they being stalked? Why did one of the deceased’s phone mysteriously appear? And then a storm hits the Outer Banks making their escape all the more perilous.

Told in two timelines, past and present, the story slowly unfolds. Don’t expect a fast paced thriller. I thought the unfolding a bit tiresome….I kept reading quickly not so much to find out what was going on but to finish the book.

The characters were not particularly likable; I didn’t engage with any of them. However, they had all been through a traumatic experience and are racked with guilt, so perhaps personality faults are to be expected. The book is quite atmospheric. Some will find it tension filled; I didn’t.

Megan Miranda is a talented writer. I have read other of her works that I have liked better, and I look forward to reading her next release.

Thanks to #netgalley and #scribner #marysueruccibooks for the ARC

This one is great! I have been a fan of Megan Miranda for a long time. All The Missing Girls was maybe the first book that got me into this type of mystery novel. Contemporary, written by and starring women, generally featuring an unwitting detective. This one really delivers. She does a great job of casting equal suspicion on everyone and the tension just builds and builds and builds. It’s really twisty and surprising but the plot doesn’t get muddled in favor of cheap twists. I recommend this if you like stormy beaches, multiple perspectives, towns with secrets, and now-and-then timelines.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

I am a Megan Miranda fan, having read most of her books. This book was told in two part..then and now. The story unraveled slowly, and the reader was unable to get the full picture of what happened “then” until the very end of the book.
This book is more of a mystery than a thriller. Good solid book!
4 stars.

As fast paced as the river they survived, this is a multi layered plot as twisty as that very river!
Told in different parts, the days the group are at the annual retreat to The Shallows, a rented house they all make a pilgrimage to each year for the anniversary of the fatal crash, as well as taking us back to ‘Then’ from each of the survivors points of view this is a multilayered story about how each person deals with the aftermath of the crash, and for some, survivors guilt.
There were nine survivors, Amaya, Clara, Grace, Oliver, Joshua, Ian, Hollis, Brody and Cassidy, but after two of the original group take their own lives, it is just the remaining seven that make the trip this year.
The recent loss of Ian is felt by all, especially Cassidy, so right from the first day something felt off about the house and a quite unease surrounds them all.
As a storm approaches from outside they once again find themselves held captive by the elements, trapped in by rain, whilst inside another kind of storm is brewing.
With frequent hints about secrets and lies, stemming from then and now, the plot forges along at the same rate as the river did back then, sweeping them all along with it.
It accumulates with an unforeseen plot twist and an ending as equally unexpected.
This is the first book I have read by Megan Miranda and after reading this book she will definitely be an author I keep am eye out for in the future!
The Only Survivors is due for publication on the 11 April 2023 in the UK and is available to preorder now from your local bookshops, library or the link below.

I just reviewed The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda. #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and Schribner for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published April 11, 2023.

This is my fifth book by this author. The premise sounded good: a group of friends reunite every year on the anniversary of a deadly crash. They share secrets. They made a pact. But someone is lying.

At times the book was super suspenseful but other times I felt like it dragged on a bit. It alternates between present and past. The ending did have some good twists!

I enjoyed this book by Megan Miranda…it was a slow burn thriller and unique. I loved all the secrets and crazy connections weaving throughout the story. Thank you!

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Megan Miranda for allowing me an ARC of The Only Survivors! I’ve noticed with a lot of Megan’s books they are slow burns - so this one definitely meets that criteria. This probably is my favorite one of all of hers - I did enjoy the twist and the ending, but it wasn’t edge of my seat thrilling. The main character Cassidy, was about average and sometimes would talk about stuff that happened but you weren’t sure exactly what she was implying to. But overall - still a great novel!

Cassidy Bent is one of nine survivors of an unfathomable tragedy that occurred on their way home from a high school service trip. Ten years have passed, and Cassidy is ready to move on with her life. She's changed her cell number and blocked the other survivor's emails. But a random text containing tragic news pulls her back to the tenth reunion of those who survived that fateful night and sends the reader down a slow burning path of a tale riddled with danger and suspicion.

Though there are many characters to follow throughout this story, they are all distinguishable and memorable. It was easy to fall into the story of their lives and to legitimately care about what had happened to them (as well as fear what would happen to them as the story progressed). Both the current day reunion timeline and the numerous flashbacks told by various characters were rich in imagery and setting. It was easy to picture the story unfolding both at the shore house and along the winding riverbanks.

Though the story did seem a slight bit too slow moving at times, the last few chapters left me clutching my Kindle late into the night. I sensed one of the plot twists coming...the other left me slack jawed. Overall, this is a well-constructed thriller, and the last few chapters are sure to keep many readers on the edge of their seats.

*A special thanks to Netgalley and Scribner/S&S Marysue Rucci Books for an advanced readers copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

The Only Survivors is another outstanding book by Megan Miranda. She has become one of my favorite authors and her books are must reads. The Only Survivors refer to a group of students who survived a horrific accident involving 2 vans. The survivors meet every year on the anniversary of the crash. When the book starts, Cassidy has decided that she is not going to meet the other survivors that year and then she received some upsetting information that survivor Ian had recently killed himself. Miranda did a great job building that tension and the suspense. We slowly learned what happened the day of the accident. We also the survivors realize that they don’t know who they can trust. There was quite the plot twist at the end.

I think I have to come to terms with the fact that Megan Miranda just isn’t for me. I’ve allegedly read 3 books from her previously (according to Goodreads), and yet I somehow don’t remember any of them. This one will be no exception. While I thought the premise and eventual outcome was intriguing enough to keep me reading and the writing was pretty good, I for some reason had a hard time following the story and what was happening both in the present and the past. I didn’t feel like I knew any of the characters very well, not even our narrator, and they all felt kind of the same. The beginning was interesting, the middle was slow, and the ending picked up a bit. Overall, this wasn’t the thriller for me and I don’t think I’ll be picking up anything from Megan Miranda again. She’s not for me, unfortunately.

A decade ago, tragedy struck a group of volunteers traveling through Tennessee. In a monstrous storm, two busses filled with high school students careened off the windy road and into the flowing ravine below. Nine students managed to survive the accident, fighting for their lives and coming out alive. All of the students had different reasons for being on the trip, different versions of their story of the accident, and different ways of coping afterward.

Every year following the accident, the surviving students reunite at The Shallows, a beach-front property where their secrets and trauma mingle for a week in remembrance. But now, only seven remain. And on the tenth anniversary, when one more survivor slips away, the rest can’t help but become suspicious of one another. Is the pact they made all those years ago still intact, or had someone started to spill the secrets about that night?

This story focuses on Cassidy, one of the survivors, and her present time as she reunites with the fellow survivors, but flashes back to each survivors memory of the crash. Like the other characters, you grow suspicious of everyone - they all seem like they have more secrets than we are being told. Megan Miranda is a thriller queen. Her writing always has my had my heart pumping, leaving me with an uneasy feeling the whole time I read.

I enjoy Megan Miranda's books I think I have read almost all of them. I think this one was my favorite because of the ending... I love a book I can't put down until I've finished, even if it means I wake up early before work to read it, and stay up late to read it such a page-turner. I love it when I don't figure out the end and this one definitely was one I didn't figure out. I would like to reread it just to see all the clues I missed. I highly recommend it.

A mystery about a group of former classmates who reunite to mark the tenth anniversary of a tragic accident—only to have one of the survivors disappear, casting fear and suspicion on the original tragedy.

Seven hours in the past. Seven days in the present. Seven survivors remaining. Who would you save?